The Great Deception: How One Sermon Destroyed a Church by Preaching Grace Without Law

You've been lied to.

And the lie came from the pulpit itself.

On December 24, 1994, Joseph W. Tkach stood before the Worldwide Church of God and delivered what would become the most spiritually destructive sermon in modern church history. In 2 hours and 50 minutes, he dismantled decades of restored biblical truth with the precision of a demolition expert.

His weapon? A theological poison called "New Covenant theology" — the ancient satanic lie that God's law has been "done away."

This wasn't just doctrinal drift. It was spiritual sabotage — a calculated assassination of the very gospel Herbert W. Armstrong had spent his life restoring.

The deadly premise? That Christians now live under "grace" that supposedly cancels obedience to God's eternal law.

But here's the explosive truth no one wants to admit:

Christ didn't come to make obedience optional. He came to write God's law on our hearts.

The Fatal Foundation Crack

Mr. Tkach's entire theological house of cards collapses on one immovable fact:

Christ explicitly declared He did not come to destroy the law.

Not some of it. Not the "ceremonial" parts. All of it.

"Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law" (Matthew 5:18).

Look outside your window. Heaven and earth remain. Therefore, God's law remains.

Yet Mr. Tkach performed breathtaking theological gymnastics, claiming the "Old Covenant package" was obsolete while arbitrarily deciding which laws to keep. Sabbath observance? Well, maybe. Tithing? Now it's "voluntary." God's other commandments? Apparently negotiable based on "humanitarian needs."

This is precisely the confusion Satan orchestrated in Eden: "Hath God said?"

But Paul — the apostle Mr. Tkach misquoted throughout his sermon — demolishes this deception:

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31).

That's not ambiguous. It's explosive.

The Covenant Deception Exposed

Here's what Mr. Tkach deliberately obscured with his sophisticated double-talk:

The "Old Covenant" was never God's law itself. It was Israel's doomed promise to obey that law in their own strength.

When Israel declared "All that [YHWH] hath spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8), they made a covenant destined for failure — not because God's law was flawed, but because human nature cannot keep it without God's Spirit.

The New Covenant doesn't eliminate God's law — it writes that same law on our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 8:10)…

The law doesn't change. The location changes.

Not abolish. Internalize.

Not discard. Transform.

Not cancel. Empower.

Mr. Tkach twisted this truth into the very lawlessness Paul warned against: "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid" (Romans 6:1-2).

The Sabbath Sabotage

Perhaps nowhere was Mr. Tkach's deception more calculated than his assault on the Sabbath commandment.

By suggesting "humanitarian needs" could override the Fourth Commandment, he cracked open a floodgate of compromise that would soon drown the church in Sunday-keeping apostasy.

But God's Sabbath isn't a burden to escape — it's a weekly reminder of His creative authority and our covenant relationship.

The Sabbath was sanctified at creation (Genesis 2:2-3), before any covenant with Israel existed. It points directly to God as Creator and prophetically to His coming Kingdom when all nations will observe it (Isaiah 66:23).

Mr. Tkach's "emergency" loopholes weren't biblical flexibility — they were systematic demolition of God's holy time.

Grace Does Not Cancel Obedience

The most satanic distortion in Mr. Tkach's sermon was his false dichotomy between grace and law — as if they were opposing forces rather than complementary truths.

Paul, whom Mr. Tkach grotesquely misrepresented, never taught that faith abolishes obedience. He taught that faith establishes obedience — not in our flesh, but through God's Spirit writing His law on our hearts.

Christ makes this crystal clear: "If you love me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

Love isn't sentiment. Love is obedience.

The Kingdom Connection That Destroys Mr. Tkach's Theology

Here's why Mr. Tkach's doctrine isn't just wrong — it's prophetically catastrophic:

Herbert W. Armstrong preached the true gospel — not just about Christ's first coming, but about His second coming to establish God's Kingdom on earth.

That Kingdom will be a literal world government built on God's perfect law. Isaiah 2:3 declares: "Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of [YHWH] from Jerusalem."

If God's law is obsolete, then so is His Kingdom.

You cannot preach the Kingdom while gutting its constitution. You cannot prepare saints to rule with Christ while teaching them His law doesn't matter.

But if Christ is returning to rule the nations with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15), then His law still stands — not as external regulations, but as the internalized character of those He's training to rule with Him (Revelation 5:10).

The Deadly Fruit of False Doctrine

Mr. Tkach's sermon wasn't theological theory. It produced devastating practical results:

• Sabbath abandonment in favor of Sunday worship

• Holy Day rejection for pagan holidays like Christmas and Easter

• Tithing collapse that financially crippled God's work

• Dietary law dismissal that confused God's health principles

• Prophetic blindness that obscured the Kingdom message

By May 7, 1997, the Worldwide Church of God had become just another grace-preaching, law-rejecting Protestant denomination — exactly what Satan intended.

The Eternal Standard That Cannot Change

God's law reflects His character, which never changes (Malachi 3:6).

The Ten Commandments aren't arbitrary religious rules — they're the spiritual constitution of the universe. They define love toward God (first four commandments) and love toward neighbor (last six commandments).

Remove the law, and "love" becomes meaningless sentiment without definition or direction.

This is why the end-time saints are identified as those who "keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12).

Not commandment-keeping without faith (legalism). Not faith without commandment-keeping (lawlessness). Both together — as they've always been intended.

The Choice Before Us

The battle lines are drawn with laser precision:

God's law or man's lawlessness. God's Kingdom or Satan's confusion. Mr. Armstrong's restored truth or Mr. Tkach's deceptive compromise.

Joseph Tkach's December 24th sermon represents more than bad theology — it's a masterpiece of satanic deception that led thousands away from the truth God had restored through His faithful apostle.

The same spirit that whispered "Hath God said?" in Eden spoke through that pulpit in 1994, using sophisticated theological language to accomplish the same goal: rebellion against God's government.

Don't be deceived.

As a student sitting in that Field House Auditorium in Big Sandy, I was once deceived.

But four years later, after prayerfully studying the Bible, I finally came to see the truth.

Heaven and earth have not passed away. Therefore, not one jot or tittle has passed from God's law.

Grace doesn't eliminate obedience — it empowers it.

The Kingdom is coming when Jesus (Yahshua) returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords — and it will be governed by the same law Mr. Tkach claimed was obsolete.

The only question is this: Will you be prepared to rule in that Kingdom, or will you be among those who believed the lie that obedience doesn't matter?

Choose wisely. Eternity hangs in the balance.

The gospel of the Kingdom demands both the faith of Jesus (Yahshua) and the commandments of God. Accept no substitutes.

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